Slow Cooker Chicken Vegetable Stew Recipe

Cozy up with this chunky, hearty one pot Slow Cooker Chicken Vegetable Stew. Learn what vegetables, herbs and spices go well in chicken stew, and how to make a healthy chicken stew. Your choice of herbs and spices will transform this simple dish into a new global dish each time you make it.

I love this time of year with all the leaves turning their glorious autumn colors. As the weather turns cooler, cozy meals like this Slow Cooker Smoky Chicken Vegetable Stew scented with warm herbs … (rosemary, thyme and sage in this case) start to appear on our menu.

Slow cooked meals free me up to run errands and take care of household chores. Almost anything cooking away slowly in the kitchen makes it smell amazing and cozy.

Something I’ve been doing more of lately is repurposing sauces from other meals and turning them into new dishes. To this stew, I added some of the Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce I made the other day and a touch of Spanish smoked paprika. Sauces from leftover meals can often be used as braising liquids or even used in soups. So, don’t throw away the delicious leftover sauces you create.

What Vegetables Go Well In Chicken Stew

Root vegetables are wonderful for slow cooked stews. Here, I’ve used simply potatoes and carrots from the farmer’s market, but you can add butternut squash/winter squash, sweet potatoes/yams, turnips, rutabaga or parsnips if you like. Mushrooms and tomatoes would also be nice, adding extra umami flavors.

What Seasoning and Spices Go In Chicken Stew

Choose a global theme and use herb and spice blends that match the flavor profile.

What Makes A Healthy Chicken Stew?

What makes this chicken vegetable stew healthy? I use skinless, boneless chicken, only one tablespoon of olive oil, low sodium broth and lots of vegetables. You can serve this slow cooker Chicken Vegetable Stew on its own, or with some crusty whole grain bread. If you like a thicker gravy, use a little mixture of cornstarch and cold water, and stir in at the end.

Slow Cooker Chicken Vegetable Stew

This version of Chicken Vegetable Stew uses a classic combination of thyme, sage and rosemary, but feel free choose your favorite spice and herb blends.

Course Main Course

Prep Time20minutes

Cook Time4hours

Total Time4hours

Servings4

Calories335kcal

AuthorJeanette

Ingredients

1poundboneless chicken breast or thighs

1/2teaspoonSpanish smoked paprika

1/2teaspoonsea salt

1/2teaspoonblack pepper

1tablespoonolive oil

1onionchopped

3carrotscoarsely chopped

2celery stalkscoarsely chopped

10 ouncesfresh mushroomsfinely chopped (I used the food processor)

salt and pepperto taste

3potatoescut up

1fresh thyme sprig

3leavesfresh sage

1small fresh rosemary sprig

1 1/2cupsRoasted Garlic Tomato Sauce or plain tomato sauce

1cuplow sodium chicken broth

Instructions

Season chicken with paprika, salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet. Place chicken in pan and brown on both sides. Remove to slow cooker. Add onion, carrots, celery, and mushrooms to pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Saute until vegetables are fragrant and any liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Scoop into slow cooker. Add potatoes, herbs, Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce, and chicken broth to slow cooker and toss everything gently. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.

Recipe Notes

You can substitute 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes for the Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce if you like. If you do, add a few chopped garlic cloves to the vegetables when sauteing.

This is a kind of meal that I look forward to coming home, and something that I want to eat the following day (and still look forward to the meal time)… What a fantastic meal with slow cooker! Chicken must be so tender and I love all these herbs!

Thank you so much for this gorgeous recipe!! We just made our first batch and it turned out beautifully! Just wondering if this can be put in the freezer and consumed for later? What is the fridge life for this?

Sorely disappointed. Was able to use up everything in my refrigerator that was required in this recipe but unfortunately after 4 hours on high in the Crock-Pot the potatoes were still hard. Had to transfer to a stovetop situation to cook through. Flavor was Bland so I had to add some chili flakes. I’m one of those people that typically follows recipes to the T and this was one of them. I recommend if you’re going to make this to definitely use the fresh herbs. I was forced to use dried. Maybe that’s the difference in flavor that I’m lacking? I highly recommend also pre cooking the potatoes halfway through.

Hi Barbara, I am so sorry to hear this did not turn out well for you. If the potatoes were cut up (similar in size to carrots), they should have cooked through in 4 hours on the high setting (it may be a difference in the type of slow cooker?). Dried herbs should work – they should be “fresh” dried herbs (no older than 1 year). Also, I used roasted garlic tomato sauce when I made this recipe. So, if you use plain tomatoes, you should add extra garlic, and season to taste with salt and pepper. I like your addition of red pepper flakes.